Elsah, Ill
This afternoon, the Principia Men's Tennis Team took on the Webster University Gorloks in their second SLIAC match of the year. Despite falling in a tight 5-4 match against Greenville on Thursday, the Panthers were in high spirits, prepared to bounce back against the Gorloks. After sweeping all three doubles matches, Principia ran away with the match, winning by a score of 9-0.
At 1st doubles,
Joey Sander and
Brody Swan made quick work of their opponents. With their booming serves and adept volleys, the Principia team controlled the match, winning 8-1. At 2nd doubles
Jules Kitchingman and
Aaron Switzer started off playing extremely well as they jumped out to a 7-3 lead. However, in their bid to close out the match, the Gorlok team began to comeback, eventually forcing a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Kitchingman and Switzer fell behind 2-5, before roaring back and winning the match 9-8 (5). At 3rd doubles,
Nat Kenworthy and
Doug DuFur really showed their skills out there on the court. They were steady on the ground as well as at net, giving themselves ample opportunities to quickly close out points. They won 8-0.
At 1st singles,
Joey Sander started slow, but was able to find his footing midway through the first set. Sander broke back to tie the match, and at 6-5 was able to break again to take the first set. The second set was all Sander as he rolled to the 7-5, 6-0 win. At 2nd singles,
Jules Kitchingman also began slowly as his opponent played a very good opening couple of games. Kitchingman stuck with it and eventually found success against his opponent. After coming away with a hotly contested first set, he was able take the match relatively easily at 6-4, 6-1. At 3rd singles,
Nat Kenworthy played a very solid match overall as he came away with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
At 4th singles,
Brody Swan took command of the points off of his groundstrokes. he was able to dictate the play and finish points at the net. Swan won 6-2, 6-3. At 5th singles,
Aaron Switzer played very well all match, as he hit clean groundstrokes and continually put pressure on his opponent. He had a nice bounce back performance from his last match, winning 6-0, 6-1. At 6th singles,
Dan Wagstaff was unable to find his rhythm early on, but found his sweet groundstrokes as the match progressed. After dropping a close first set, Wagstaff won the second set and finished out the match in a third set tiebreaker. He won 6-7 (7), 6-3, 10-5.
Principia moved to 1-1 in SLIAC play with the victory. They play next on Tuesday, April 5th at 6:00 PM against SLIAC foe, Fontbonne University. This is a home match and weather permitting will be played on Morey Courts.
